My plans to be able to write a whole load of fics over the summer really haven't gone to plan, so for the moment, this is the best that I can do. I hope you like it. Please review if you can spare a few seconds.

The Little Things

Sybil loved where she lived. She loved that there were large open meadows and parks in every direction. She loved that there was a river running through the centre of the town. And apparently, so did everyone else. Every year the council put on a fundraising event to raise money for various charities. In the large fields were stalls selling all sorts of things – second hand books, jewellery, greetings cards, children's toys and anything else you can imagine. At one end of the vast expanse of fields was a large stage to provide the soundtrack of the event, performed by various local bands, some of which played original songs and some of which played covers.

Every year, Sybil, Gwen, Anna and Daisy got together and spent the day listening to the music, looking around the stalls and generally enjoying the day in the sunshine, which did usually show its face for at least some of the day, if not all. This had become quite the tradition between the girls over the years. Each year, various partners were dragged along to join in the celebrations, but this year, it was only Sybil who had brought a partner. Thankfully though, being outnumbered by women didn't faze Tom even in the slightest, thanks to having grown up with three sisters in a matriarchal family.

When the group arrived at the event they found a spot to make camp, setting down the picnic blankets partly in the shade and partly in the sun to accommodate for everyone. They spent a while lazing around, listening to the music and chatting before Daisy decided to go and wander around the stalls to see what was on offer.

"Is anyone coming with me?" she asked as she stood up.

"I'll join you," Anna said.

"Yeah, I'll come too," Gwen said, with a mouthful of strawberries.

"I'll stay and guard valuables so you don't have to carry it all around with you," Sybil said, looking up at the three girls, causing the sun to shine into her eyes.

"I'll stick with Sybil," Tom said.

So the girls went off to see what was going on and left Sybil and Tom together.

As soon as the three had left, Sybil shifted to lie on her back with her head in Tom's lap. Most of Sybil's body was in the sun, but her head and shoulders were covered by the shade of the tree Tom was sitting in. It was unusual for Tom to be in the shade. Both Sybil and Tom were the sorts of people who, given a choice between sun and shade, would take the sun almost every time.

"Are you alright, love?" he asked.

"Never better," Sybil said, looking up at Tom with lovesick eyes.

They had been going out for almost eight months now, but they were still very much in the puppy-love stage of the relationship, revelling in every second of each other's company, holding hands at every opportunity and behaving as though it was the first time either of them had ever been in love.

Tom lifted his hand from the ground and began twisting locks of Sybil's hair between his fingers. She smiled up at him and pulled his spare hand into hers. Sybil had always hated people playing with her hair. She never understood the appeal of it and just found that it would inevitably end up knottier than it was before it had been played with. But with Tom it just felt natural. It seemed right that he should be winding strands of her curly dark hair around his calloused fingers.

"I love you," she said quietly.

"I love you too," he said.

"I'm glad you came today," Sybil said.

"This is a nice place. I'm surprised they don't put on events here more often."

"No, I mean it. I'm glad you were willing to spend time with me and my friends. I sometimes feel like I drag you along to all these things when you don't really want to be there," Sybil explained.

"I like your friends, Sybil. They're great fun. And besides, they make you happy."

"You make me happier," she said, squeezing his hand and widening her eyes, gazing at him.

"I doubt that," Tom said softly. "If your friends were to abandon you completely you'd be miserable. They're clearly important to you."

"Yeah, I love them," Sybil said. "It means a lot that you like them too."

"Spending time with them makes you happy and I'm willing to do practically anything to make you happy," he said.

Sybil sat up and crossed her legs, facing her boyfriend.

"Do you know what would make me happy right now?" she said in a raspy voice.

Tom leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips, holding her waist gently in his hands.

"Maybe that?" Tom said quietly.

"Precisely that," Sybil replied, smiling widely, but not taking her lips far from his.

She leant in again and placed her lips fully on his, opening her mouth slightly and moving her hands to his shoulders as their lips moved together in synchronisation.

For a while they stayed like this, talking quietly and kissing softly without a care in the world. Nothing else was important; nothing else mattered except the two of them. It could have been ten minutes or two hours before the others came back, and when they did, Sybil and Tom wished they could have more time together.

"Honestly, you two are far too in love," Gwen said when the girls came back, interrupting Sybil and Tom from a tender kiss.

"There's no such thing as too in love," Daisy said.

"We leave you for twenty minutes and you can't keep your hands off each other!" Gwen mocked.

Sybil turned around and sat next to Tom, leaning into him with his arm around her waist.

"We did our job, didn't we? Nobody took any of your stuff," Sybil said, mock indignantly.

"I'm sure anybody could have done, though, and you wouldn't have noticed," Anna said, joining in the mocking.

"Oh, come on, they're only in love. We've all been there," Daisy said.

"And a lovely place to be, it is, too," Gwen said.

Tom kissed Sybil's temple and pulled her into him tightly for a moment. This is what mattered in the world. Friends and lovers and sunshine. There was nothing better.